The present invention relates to a display device and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a display device which has been improved in the strength of impact-resistant properties or the like and a method of manufacturing the same.
A schematic structure of a conventional display device will be described below. A sodium passivation film made of SiO.sub.2 is formed on the surface of a glass substrate made of soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, or the like, and further a transparent electrode made of film-like ITO grown by a method such as evaporation or sputtering is formed thereon while being patterned. Two glass substrates, on the surface of each of which the sodium passivation film and the transparent electrode are sequentially formed as described above, are bonded to each other with a sealing agent so that they are opposite to each other, and a display material such as a liquid crystal or an electrochromic material is enclosed in the gap between the glass substrates to form the display device.
Since such a display device is excellent in portability and consumes little electric power, contrary to a CRT or the like, it is widely used at present for a digital watch, a display for a computer, and so on.
However, since a highly transparent substrate is desired for such a flat panel display, a glass substrate is used in the existing circumstances. However, the glass substrate has a defect that it is liable to break because it is made of glass.
Especially, since the flat panel display is often used for a portable electric equipment, it is required to be strong against impact of drop. On the other hand, since the portable electric equipment is desired to be light, thin, short, and small, the thickness of the glass substrate is required to be thin, which results in deterioration in the strength. That is, the display device has such a contradictory problem.